Washington,
D.C. – Today, details of the Transportation Bill Conference Report under
consideration by House and Senate conferees were revealed. Congress is expected
to vote on the deal this week.

In
response, the Sierra Club released the following statement from Executive
Director, Michael Brune:

“Led by Senators Reid and Boxer, the Senate rightly rejected
attempts by House Republicans to attach unrelated and damaging poison pills to this bill
that would have gutted coal ash safeguards and approved of the dangerous
Keystone XL pipeline.

Thanks
to Senate leadership, Congress had the real opportunity for a strong,
bipartisan bill
that would have put our transportation system on the path to the 21st Century.
Unfortunately, House Republican ideologues sabotaged this chance, proving again
they are willing to sacrifice millions of jobs to advance their radical agenda.

By
being willing to walk away from three million American jobs, House Republicans
extracted concessions that will keep our transportation system stuck in
reverse. By rolling back critical environmental review laws, they’ll curtail the public’s ability to have a say on highway and bridge projects in their
communities. By undermining efforts to make biking and walking safer and keep our
roads and bridges in good repair, they’ve done their best to ensure we remain
dependent on oil and a crumbling infrastructure.

When
you have extremists in Congress willing to derail the country to push their
reckless ideology refusing to negotiate with Senate leaders who want to act to
save jobs, the results are grim. Now, we’re left with a must-pass bill stripped
of its potential. One of the few good things you can say about this bill is
that it could have been worse.”